the edge of the forest. When he saw the Girl again, he was standing in
the centre of the cage, his feet in a pool of blood that smeared the
ground. She was struggling with Hauck, struggling to break from him and
get to the house. And now he knew that Hauck had heard, and that he
would hold her there, and that her eyes would be on him while Brokaw was
killing him. For he knew that Brokaw would fight to kill. It would not
be a square fight. It would be murder--if the chance came Brokaw's way.
The thought did not frighten him. He was growing strangely calm in these
moments. He realized the advantage of being unencumbered, and he
stripped off his shirt, and tightened his belt. And then Brokaw entered.
The giant had stripped himself to the waist, and he stood for a moment
looking at David, a monster with the lust of murder in his eyes. It was
frightfully unequal--this combat. David felt it, he was blind if he did
not see it, and yet he was still unafraid. A great silence fell. Cutting
it like a knife came the Girl's voice:

"_Sakewawin--Sakewawin...._"

A brutish growl rose out of Brokaw's chest. He had heard that cry, and
it stung him like an asp.

"To-night, she will be with me," he taunted David and lowered his head
for battle.

CHAPTER XXIV

David no longer saw the horde of faces beyond the thick bars of the
cage. His last glance, shot past the lowered head and hulking shoulders
of his giant adversary, went to the Girl. He noticed that she had ceased
her struggling and was looking toward him. After that his eyes never
left Brokaw's face. Until now it had not seemed that Brokaw was so big
and so powerful, and, sizing up his enemy in that moment before the
first rush, he realized that his one hope was to keep him from using his
enormous strength at close quarters. A clinch would be fatal. In
Brokaw's arms he would be helpless; he was conscious of an unpleasant
thrill as he thought how easy it would be for the other to break his
back, or snap his neck, if he gave him the opportunity. Science! What
would it avail him here, pitted against this mountain of flesh and bone
that looked as though it might stand the beating of clubs without being
conquered! His first blow returned his confidence, even if it had
wavered slightly. Brokaw rushed. It was an easy attack to evade, and
David's arm shot out and his fist landed against Brokaw's head with a
sound that was like the crack of a whip. Hauck would have gone down
und